The use of 3D printing has increased across many industries over recent years, but the technology is making a bold impact on the medical industry where it is being used to improve healthcare and save lives.

Stratasys has created sophisticated additive manufacturing technology which is helping to improve processes and delivery times within many sectors, including healthcare.

“custom-made implants, fixtures, and surgical tools can have a positive impact in terms of the time required for surgery, patient recovery time, and the success of the surgery or implant”

According to Eureka Magazine, their innovative technologies are developing fully functional medical prototypes, such as knee braces and other equipment, for improved design efficiency.

The key use of the technology is to help hospitals test medical devices early in the production process, to make any required design changes before final production. It reduces the time taken for the products to be finished and is also seeing many new innovations coming to market.

As the healthcare industry grows around the globe, governments and independent organizations are looking for the most cost effective, innovative and efficient healthcare solutions – and, Stratasys is providing the answers.

According to a publication on the medical applications of 3D printing in NCBI, C. Lee Ventola, describes how “custom-made implants, fixtures, and surgical tools can have a positive impact in terms of the time required for surgery, patient recovery time, and the success of the surgery or implant”.

The technology is also helping doctors work faster, shorten patient waiting and theatre times, and improves operation and aftercare results.

What’s more, the use of additive manufacturing is being used to aid complex surgical procedures during the planning stages to reduce surgery times, and improve accuracy.

The technology is aiding doctors when they practice surgery on 3D printed models – for example, using ‘dummy’ models where surgeons can fine tune their skills on a specific area to ensure the surgery they will undertake is the correct one.

Stratasys is expanding fast and has not only cornered the health industry but supplies solutions to aerospace agencies and the automotive industry.

The company stresses that their products are market leading and their practices prove there isn’t a drop in quality when using their technology. They offer organizations a speedy design and implementation alternative that is rarely rivaled in any industry.

Within all these areas of technological innovation, especially in healthcare, Stratasys holds a great deal of responsibility seeing as they quite literally hold people’s lives in their hands.

It takes bold ideas like these to encourage innovation and to change people’s lives for the better by improving medicine and healthcare practices globally.